A few people have asked this via my eBay listings. Nothing lasts forever and of course one day the 2g signals that have been running 3 or so decades will be switched off.

We’re in a slightly better situation in the United Kingdom though. Unlike Australia (who switched off their 2g signal) and America (who plan to) in the uk we have a rather unique geographical layout that necessitates continuing 2G signal for operators to maintain their coverage % as high as possible. There is also the growth of M2M application where smart appliances for example use that part of the spectrum to operate. This is a growth area too.

So long story short… we’re good for a few years yet. Don’t write off your old handsets just yet.

I’m hoping this site will expand to include more fixes and more voices than just my own.

Like I was saying to a commenter just now, if you’d like to submit a retro review, a piece on your favourite handset or fixes other than my admittedly rather nokia 8110- centric how-tos… or anything else… then please leave a comment or drop me an email so I can set you up as a contributor. We’d love for you to join us.

One eagle-eyed visitor noticed that although I correctly said ACH-6x (10 volt 740 mA) as the correct charger for the 8110 series mobiles on some videos, on one of them I grabbed the wrong charger and said ACP-12x (5.7v 800mA) which of course is the charger for the Nokia 7110. Apologies.

So make sure you use the one on the right and not the left. You can try the one on the left but as the voltage is insufficient it will just beep at you in disgust and do nothing.

I’m with them on the Motorola Razr V3 (2004) which was a great phone and a handset I’ll be featuring on here at some point.

In second place the Nokia 8110 (1996) and yes enough said. I think I’ve discussed that one enough on here for a good while. I’d buy a retro remake even though it wouldn’t be the same. Morbid curiosity perhaps.

#3 LG Chocolate BL40 (2009) though? Is that even ‘retro’? At the time it felt like LG flailing around a bit trying to find a niche. It didn’t really do anything particularly well apart from being shiny.

And the T-Mobile Sidekick (2002) at #4? What even is that? It looks and sounds pretty bad. This bit just made me feel ill.

Unlike LG, T-Mobile succeeded in making the Sidekick a hit with celebrities, and the phone was seen in the hands of such illustrious talents as Lindsay Lohan, Kim Kardashian and both Nicky and Paris Hilton

Interesting question. Whilst second hand (or pre loved if you prefer the newly marketed way of putting it) phones have jumped in the last few years, you still see some phones go for ridiculously high amounts… and conversely some for a lot cheaper than ‘book value’.

I put it down to the fact it’s only quite recently become a ‘thing’ and there isn’t yet a critical mass of people looking to collect a full set of Nokia cellphones or get the full run of handsets they ever had. Perhaps that’s why it’s a good time to start collecting.

This Is Money tried to quantify it a few months ago and following is a rather random table that may give you an idea of value. It doesn’t seem to be based on value or scarcity and seems to be a subjective list of randomly selected handsets but still potentially helpful. Enjoy:

FIND RARE PHONES ON EBAY

1. Motorola DynaTAC 8000x (£1,000)

2. Nokia 3310 (£10 – £55)

3. First ever Nokia Mobira Talkman 1981 (£900)

4. Apple iPhone 2G (£150 – £1,000)

5. Motorola StarTAC (£30 – £100)

6. Motorola Razr V3 (£15 – £60) / Dolce & Gabanna model (£150)

7. Sony Ericcson W880i (£30 – £50)

8. Nokia N95 (£60 – £90)

9. HTC One (£40 – £50)

10. Nokia 9000 Communicator (£20 – £50)

(Estimated value in brackets)

2g iPhones raises an eyebrow (mine cost a tenner a few years back). As does the Nokia Mobira Talkman at nearly a grand although I’m not interested in that generation. I personally like phones that I remember having or using and that work on modern gsm networks. You can switch on a Nokia 7110 or 8110i (or whatever) and use it. If this blog was a car magazine it would be ‘Practical Classics’.

Ok so you’ve got power flowing through your lovely Nokia 8110 or 8110i for the first time in a few decades. It would be rude to go to all that effort and then let the batteries rattle around and working those new solder joints loose.

This is quite an interesting one and does reflect the increasing prices we’re seeing for old phones, consoles and technology in general.

Original Game Boys up to £75? When did that happen? I remember selling my original for a tenner. Perhaps I should have held in to it but then again you can’t hold onto everything unless you get a bigger loft. I do the love the way these old phones, gadgets and games consoles keep going though. Built to last with no lead – free solder in sight.

A bit on my current favourite too:

Nokia 8110 handsets, made famous in the 90s Matrix films, are changing hands for up to £41, according to the research.

The phones, which featured a spring-loaded slider in the science fiction cult classics, were the favourite of lead character Neo – played by Keanu Reeves.

They actually seem to be going for a lot more than that if refurbished and with reconditioned battery but £41 for untested sounds possible. I wouldn’t say they were a favourite of Neo’s in the matrix movies though. The phones only appeared in the original (an awful Samsung featured in the remaining films) and he didn’t really pick it as a favourite as much as handed it in an envelope. The spring loaded effect the special effects people added was pretty cool though… maybe that should be the next project. I remember someone coming up with an autoslide mod years ago. Perhaps the instructions for that rather cool modification are still out there somewhere…